Guardianista

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who reads or writes for The Guardian newspaper and is seen as a typical progressive, left-leaning liberal
2. A stereotypical liberal, often British and middle-class, associated with the readership or writers of The Guardian newspaper
3. Someone perceived as embodying the politically progressive, socially conscious outlook typical of readers of The Guardian newspaper

Etymology: "Guardianista" is formed from "Guardian," the British newspaper, plus the suffix "-ista," which in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese forms nouns for followers or adherents of a movement or person. The suffix is the same one that gave English "fascista," "sandinista" and "Trotskyist"-style labels. Attaching it to a newspaper name turns the paper into a tribe: a "Guardianista" is a reader or writer whose politics and tastes are taken to match the paper's, usually a left-leaning, socially liberal, metropolitan outlook. The coinage is a modern piece of mocking shorthand rather than a term with a long history. Its meaning depends entirely on the paper's reputation, so it is most often used by critics and in online commentary as a light insult, the way "Telegraph" or "Mail" readers might be teased for their own assumptions. Because it is built on a proper noun, it carries no independent meaning outside the British press debate it belongs to.